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China, Iran eye barter plan to bypass US sanctions-FT
China, Iran eye barter plan to bypass US sanctions-FT | Energy & Oil | Reuters
Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:53pm GMT
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LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Iran and China are discussing
using a barter system to exchange Iranian oil for Chinese goods
and services, as U.S. sanctions have blocked China from paying
at least $20 billion for oil, the Financial Times said.
The paper, citing people familiar with the problem, said
U.S. financial sanctions against Iran, which make it hard to
conduct dollar-denominated business, meant China might owe the
oil-rich country as much as $30 billion.
The people said the unpaid oil bills had built up in the
past two years and the governments, which are in early-stage
talks, were looking at how to "offset" the debt, the FT
reported.
The paper said some Iranian officials were growing
increasingly angry about the inability of the country's biggest
oil customers such as China and India to pay cash, which has
contributed to a shortage of hard currency for the country.
"Both China and India are happy to keep Iran's money in
their banks and try to get Iran involved in barter deals to
sell their junk, or given yuan and rupees instead of hard
currencies," the FT quoted one Iranian former official who
chose to remain anonymous as saying.
It said the official added that Iran had not yet accepted
the alternatives.
China, Iran eye barter plan to bypass US sanctions-FT | Energy & Oil | Reuters
Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:53pm GMT
Print | Single Page
[-] Text [+]
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Iran and China are discussing
using a barter system to exchange Iranian oil for Chinese goods
and services, as U.S. sanctions have blocked China from paying
at least $20 billion for oil, the Financial Times said.
The paper, citing people familiar with the problem, said
U.S. financial sanctions against Iran, which make it hard to
conduct dollar-denominated business, meant China might owe the
oil-rich country as much as $30 billion.
The people said the unpaid oil bills had built up in the
past two years and the governments, which are in early-stage
talks, were looking at how to "offset" the debt, the FT
reported.
The paper said some Iranian officials were growing
increasingly angry about the inability of the country's biggest
oil customers such as China and India to pay cash, which has
contributed to a shortage of hard currency for the country.
"Both China and India are happy to keep Iran's money in
their banks and try to get Iran involved in barter deals to
sell their junk, or given yuan and rupees instead of hard
currencies," the FT quoted one Iranian former official who
chose to remain anonymous as saying.
It said the official added that Iran had not yet accepted
the alternatives.